How far is "too far" to have your coop/chickens from your home?

[HomegrownHudson]

NEW to BYC, NEW to chickens

I currently live on a 1/2 acre residential lot. I've been dreaming about having a couple of backyard chickens for years now. Recently, my Husband and I have come across the opportunity to purchase a 10 acre parcel of land (zoned agricultural!) The 10 acres is just down the street from our house, maybe 500-600 feet. My question: is this too far away to be able to safely keep chickens? Our plan is to eventually build a home on this land, perhaps within the next 5 years, but there is NO way I could wait that long to finally get started on my dream of a little mini-farm.

Suggestions? Advice? Opinions? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Are you not allowed to have chickens where you are now? 1/2acre is more than enough to raise a small flock of chickens.

I think if you buy the land and put chickens on it you will lose out on a lot of the "joy" of having chickens. You are probably looking at 2-3 trips a day to the chickens to let them out, close them in and maybe make an egg collection. Think about sitting at home near dusk, it's late winter, middle of the week, it's been freezing rain all day and now you gotta get all layered up and go make a run down to the "farm" to close in the chickens?

Chicken TV is a BIG part of keeping the chickens so how much time do you think you'll spend just hanging out with your flock if it's not convenient.

My suggestion(for what it's worth), would be to just start a small flock where you currently are and when the time is right, move them to the bigger place and expand your flock. The other advantage of this is that you can use the small flock/coop setup as a test run and find what works and what doesn't work for you as far as design of the coop and such. Better to have a small coop that you wish you had done xyz different, then when it's time for the big coop you make the changes you wanted vs making a big coop then wishing you had done xyz different.

 

[noitulover]

Are you not allowed to have chickens where you are now? 1/2acre is more than enough to raise a small flock of chickens.

I think if you buy the land and put chickens on it you will lose out on a lot of the "joy" of having chickens. You are probably looking at 2-3 trips a day to the chickens to let them out, close them in and maybe make an egg collection. Think about sitting at home near dusk, it's late winter, middle of the week, it's been freezing rain all day and now you gotta get all layered up and go make a run down to the "farm" to close in the chickens?

Chicken TV is a BIG part of keeping the chickens so how much time do you think you'll spend just hanging out with your flock if it's not convenient.

My suggestion(for what it's worth), would be to just start a small flock where you currently are and when the time is right, move them to the bigger place and expand your flock. The other advantage of this is that you can use the small flock/coop setup as a test run and find what works and what doesn't work for you as far as design of the coop and such. Better to have a small coop that you wish you had done xyz different, then when it's time for the big coop you make the changes you wanted vs making a big coop then wishing you had done xyz different.

ditto!! I'd build a coop/run to house 4 chickens (give or take!) on your current half acre. I'd get chicks and brood them, and then put them out in the coop when they're old enough. Have fun learning as you go with just a few. Then, you'll know how many chickens you actually want/need and what type of coop you really want, what's easiest to clean, etc., and start building your DREAM coop on the 10 acres!

 

[Mikedero]

I agree with the above statement. I have a half acre and right now I have 9 chickens, 4 rabbits, 20 sometihng quail and they all only use about a space 20X20 on the side of the propery towards the woods. I really did not lose any yards.

the reason I agree with the above is that you will start small but by the time you get the house built you can add a really nice and big chicken coop because chickens are like pringles you always want more.


I started with 6, then bought 3 more a month later, now I have 9 more coming in a few weeks and 15 meat chickens so for a few weeks I will have 33 chickens on my property

Just avoid the rooster until you get the bigger place

 

[HomegrownHudson]

We are allowed 3 chickens max now. Our "small flock" of dogs is currently keeping us from my chicken obsession. Yes, I know there are ways to secure the chickens from the dogs, BUT they chewed a hole in our privacy fence to get at a litter of kittens that were hidden between our fence and our neighbors wood pile (it didn't end well for the kittens) Not to mention we have neighbors on both sides, and also behind our home, so even if we could prevent the dogs from getting at them, they would NEVER stop barking.

Time invested is not a problem. We are a very outdoors family. Living in SW Ohio, our winters are not too harsh, and we are never really bothered by going out in the snow or rain. The land is mostly wooded right now, and our end goal is to clear paths and develop it into some nice riding trails for our children and their ATVs. So, we will be spending all of our extra time there for the foreseeable future anyway.

 

[noitulover]

Yikes!! I'd get your dogs under control. When you move to the 10 acres, their behavior won't change.

 

[QuietPony]

Yikes!! I'd get your dogs under control. When you move to the 10 acres, their behavior won't change.

I completely agree here. Sounds like you have a bunch wolves instead of dogs. lol Good luck with all that.

 

[dranna]

I'm a soon to be chicken owner in southern Ohio, the hocking hills region. Not quite neighbors, but similar climate. I pretty much ignore some of the things people suggest that will keep you outside the pen or coop due to not wanting to get dirty. I have 3 horses that I have here on the property. We have a 24 X 36 barn for them to go in and out as they please, but we still do poop and pee clean up twice a day EVERY day. One of the horses is old and I need to make sure she has her grain so she doesn't lose weight. I have 'barn clothes' which includes layers of warm functional clothes that are fine to get dirty and outside shoes and boots. I mean what's the fun of having chickens if you aren't going to interact with them. My barn and planned chicken coop are about 80-100 feet from the house and can see the barn and coop from a few windows in the house. I like being able to look out and see if everything is okay. Good luck with your new chicks

Anna

 

[HomegrownHudson]

In the defense of the dogs.... The kittens were newborn, just that day. And when I found them all, none were eaten, they were actually just piled in a corner of the female's dog house. I like to think she was trying to "mother" them, but actually "smothered" them instead.

 

[aart]

You'll still need to train the dogs to leave the chicken alone, might be easier at the small place.

2-3 trips down to the new place to care for the chooks isn't really the issue as much as being close in case of predation issues.